SEASONS ON THE LINEThe UC San Diego track and field squads will literally have their last opportunity to improve their marks at the Azusa Pacific Last Chance Qualifier on Friday and Saturday. The hammer throw events, which will take place at Burns Track Complex on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps campus in Claremont, will mark the beginning of the meet on Friday, first with the women's hammer throw at noon and the men's hammer throw following afterward.

The rest of the meet will be run Saturday at Azusa Pacific’s own Cougar Athletic Stadium, kicking off with the women’s long jump, men’s pole vault, men’s high jump and men’s javelin, which all take place at 1 p.m. The men’s 4x100 relay will be the first track competition at 2 p.m. Field events will conclude with the men’s triple jump at 5:30 p.m., while the women’s 5000 will close the meet at 6:45 p.m.

LAST SEASON’S LAST CHANCEAt the 2012 Cal State L.A. Last Chance Qualifier, sophomore Sabrina Pimentel won the women’s 800, improving her NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time to 2:12.69. In addition, junior Lauren Irish finished fifth in the women’s 400 (1:02.91). On the men’s side, senior Ryan Eckert took third in the shot put with a toss measuring 49'1.5", and sophomore Nash Howe threw to a fifth-place finish in the javelin (192'10").

CCAA FRESHMEN AWARDS SWEEPJust as the UCSD cross country team did in its conference championships, the Tritons of track and field claimed both the CCAA Freshman of the Year Awards.

Winning CCAA Female Freshman of the Year was Kristin Sato, whose honor was highlighted by a first-place showing in the triple jump, where she leaped 39’5.25” as part of a top-four Triton sweep in that event. The Milpitas native additionally landed a third-place leap of 17’9.5” in the long jump. Along with senior Kathleen Hitchens, senior Chelsey Kamson and freshman Amy Heins in that order, Sato ran the third leg of the women’s 4x100 relay, which clocked in at 48.20 in the finals to finish fourth. Sato, who has a provisional in the triple jump (39'6"), is tied for 18th nationally in Division II.

Freshman Sean Cook won the CCAA Male Freshman of the Year Award upon leaping a season-best distance of 23’10.75” in the long jump, where he finished second and earned a provisional mark. Cook also cleared a height of 6’2.75” in the high jump to settle for sixth place and placed 11th in the triple jump (39’5.75”). The Hayward native’s long jump mark ranks 28th in Division II and is the second-longest jump in UCSD history for that event.

AUTOMATIC FOR THE NASH-IONALSSophomore Nash Howe netted UCSD’s first automatic qualifier this season at the CCAA Championships on May 4, winning the men’s javelin with a dominating career-best throw of 221’4” to improve his No. 2 mark in school history for that event. Howe’s mark is the fifth-longest achieved in Division II this season.

BENHAM BOOSTSWith a set height of 12’0.5”, freshman Megan Benham brushed over the bar of the women’s pole vault to earn a season-best performance and a third-place result at the CCAA Championships on May 3. Benham matched her teammate, freshman Sydney Blakeley, who cleared that height at the San Diego Collegiate Challenge on March 9 in a third-place finish. Both are tied with the third-highest height cleared in their event’s program history and have a share of 31st place in the pole vault among provisional marks this season.

BRADLEY’S HEPTATHLONAs the Tritons’ lone representative in the heptathlon this season, sophomore Veronica Bradley ended the competition in fourth place with a score of 4,383 points at the CCAA Championships on May 2-3. Her score put her at No. 5 on UCSD’s all-time top 10 list for that event and brought her just 17 points shy of a provisional mark. Bradley had her highest finish in the long jump, a second-place showing in which she leaped 17’5.5”, and earned personal-record times of 15.48 in the 100 hurdles (4th) and 26.70 in the 200 (5th). Hailing from Richland, Wash., Bradley had a share of third place in the high jump with a season-best of 5’2.5” and took third in the shot put (31’1.75”). Bradley also finished fifth in the 800 (2:35.55) and sixth in the javelin (80’7”). Outside of the heptathlon, Bradley later surpassed her season-best in the high jump with a height of 5’3” on May 4 while tying for third.

SPRINTS FROM A ROSESophomore Keith Rose broke former teammate Ka Wai Ng’s 10.74 program record in the men’s 100 prelims at the CCAA Championships on May 3 with a school-record time of 10.71. On May 4, Rose shattered his record by winning the 100 final in 10.62. In the 200 prelims on May 3, Rose also outran his record (21.59) with a record-breaking time of 21.57. The San Jose native later crossed the finish line of the 200 finals in third (21.64) on May 4. In addition, Rose began the Tritons’ third-place 4x400 relay team (3:19.16), chronologically preceding sophomore Nathaniel Ford, junior David Guinasso and freshman Arvind Rao, and ran the fourth leg of UCSD’s fifth-place 4x100 relay team (43.69), following Guinasso, freshman Adam Augustyn and freshman Kevin Chiao. Rose is .02 seconds away from a provisional in the 100 and .12 shy of one in the 200.

RISING ROSSERJunior Clint Rosser moved up to third on UCSD’s all-time top 10 for the men’s pole vault as well as finished third during the last day of the CCAA Championships on May 4 upon successfully crossing over a height of 16’2.5”. With the mark, Rosser climbed to 17th in the nation at the Division II level for that event.

SHY OF A PROVISIONALThere are several Tritons who will be competing on Friday and Saturday who have yet to clinch a provisional qualifier but have a mark that is well within range of the provisional minimum:

GET YOUR GEAR HERETriton Athletics is excited about its partnership with Advanced-Online which provides a web-based, on-demand option for UCSD apparel and merchandise. Fans now have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours. Advanced-Online also offers special-event and championship gear. Access the site at UCSDtritonsgear.com.

SOCIALLY PROFICIENT There are now more ways than ever to follow the Tritons. You've always got UCSDtritons.com at your fingertips, but our social media scene continues to grow. Get instant updates on Twitter (@UCSDtritons) and like us on Facebook (UCSDtritons). For a more visual approach, watch our YouTube channel. For all things UCSD track and field, be sure to follow @UCSDXC.